The Error Spreads
by Daricio
Summary: Ever since a glitchy abomination called Error Sans destroyed his universe and kidnapped his brother, US!Papyrus has been searching desperately for any hints of them. But he never expected to find this... (a short Errortale continuation)


Just a short scene that keeps popping into my head, based off of loverofpiggies' Errortale AU, with Error!Sans and Blueberry!Sans. These characters, and the storyline they belong to, are hers. All hail the Crayon Queen!

Oh, I guess Blueberry is technically from Underswap, which is a community AU, but then Error butted his head into things. And Core!Frisk belongs to dokudoki.

You, uh, probably won't understand what's going on if you don't look at Errortale first. Just to warn you.

And Undertale belongs to Toby Fox.

Ok, I think I credited everyone now. Enjoy my little drabble.

* * *

Papyrus stared for a long time at the cards in his hands, his face neutral. He had a lousy hand, but glancing around the table, he had no way of knowing if anyone else had anything better. Papyrus had always been particularly good at reading people's expressions, but it was surprisingly difficult to do when every face at the table was his own.

Finally, he sighed, laying his cards down and taking a long pull from his cigarette. "I fold," he said lazily.

"Yes!" The Papyrus next to him, who wore a simple black t-shirt with a fluffy blue jacket over the top, jumped to his feet with a huge grin. "The Great Papyrus is sure to be victorious this round! I raise!"

Another Papyrus, this one with narrowed eyes and strangely pointed teeth, snorted. "We're ALL the Great Papyrus," he pointed out, dropping a chip in the middle of the table. "Of course he's going to win."

Papyrus simply rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair. Really, this was all too weird for him, staying in this Omega timeline place. Every Papyrus here was distinctly Papyrus, but all were different, too. Even the ones from "swap" universes, like him, had different experiences, and even slightly different personalities. Only half of them actually liked puns, for instance, and one always had a lollipop instead of smoking. And seeing all the different Sanses running around was almost more unnerving than all the versions of himself.

Everyone had gotten into the habit of dressing differently from each other, as well, though that was more for making things less confusing for everyone. Right at the moment, he still wore his usual orange hoodie, but had changed out his shorts for a pair of worn out jeans that had, through the years, picked up a greenish tint from dirt and ground-in grass stains. He'd very quickly earned the nickname "Carrot Paps" from this outfit choice, but considering some of the other names he'd heard people here going by, he didn't mind too much. Better than "Edgy My MC Chemical Romance."

"Papyrus!"

All heads at the table turned, of course, looking amused as they each responded, "yes?" with various degrees of enthusiasm.

Core Frisk, the strange, all gray child who had shown them how to get here, stood in the doorway, her expression somehow both worried and excited. "The orange one," they clarified. "Come with me, I have something important to tell you."

Blinking in surprise, Papyrus climbed slowly to his feet, putting out his cigarette. "What is it?" he asked anxiously, but Core was already out the door again. Quickly, he followed them into the hallway. "Did you find that error guy?"

"No. But I found something better." Core turned to face him, a sad smile on their face. "Papyrus, I found your brother."

For a long moment, Papyrus felt as though the world had stopped. Then he dropped to one knee so as to be eye level with the child. "Y-you did? Where? Can you take me to him?"

Core nodded. "I helped him back to your universe. He's waiting for you." Immediately, Papyrus was up and headed for the nearest doorway, but Core caught his wrist. He paused and glanced back at the child's upset face. "I must warn you… there is something… wrong."

A knot of worry blossomed in Papyrus's chest. "Is he… is he hurt?"

"Not physically, but… well, you'll see."

Papyrus tugged his arm free of their grasp and took off running. The doorway in front of him glowed a brilliant white as he sped through, and a moment later, he was back in the broken judgement hall of his own world.

As he entered, a small figure looked up from where he sat hunched on the ground against a pillar. His eyes were closed, and his face held a look of tentative hope. "Papyrus?" he asked softly.

"Sans!" He teleported straight to his brother's side, practically falling over as he pulled the smaller skeleton to his feet and into a hug. "I… I can't believe it's really you!"

Sans tensed at his touch and gently reached up to pull Papyrus's arms away from him. "Are you really _my_ Papyrus this time? The one who fought Error for me?"

"Yes," he answered with some relief. He'd been wondering the same thing, to be honest, and hearing him give that confirmation lifted a huge load from his shoulders. "Yes, Sans, it really is me."

The smaller skeleton finally smiled wide, his grip on Papyrus's arms tightening. Tears formed in his eyes, and Papyrus noted suddenly that he still had them closed tightly. "Oh, gosh, Paps… I missed you so much."

"You have no idea," Papyrus chuckled helplessly. "I've been… I've been searching everywhere, but I couldn't…"

He wanted desperately to pull Sans into another hug, but his brother wouldn't let go, wouldn't let him get closer. "Sans, what happened?"

"Everything. And nothing. Error lives in a place he calls the anti-void, the gap between dimensions. There's… no time there, no sound, no colors, no anything. Super weird place." Sans laughed, but it sounded odd. Off. "Error, he, uhh, mostly just told me a lot of creepy stories, so that part wasn't so bad. When he left, though…"

Papyrus frowned. "Sans… why won't you look at me?"

Sans shuddered, turning his head away. "Because…" his voice became very small. "I'm scared, Paps. I'm so scared…"

Gritting his teeth, Papyrus fought past his brother's grip and wrapped his arms tightly around him. For a few brief seconds, Sans relaxed into the embrace, and a small sob escaped him, but then he abruptly shoved Papyrus away again, holding him at arm's length. "N-no! Paps, don't. I… Y-you shouldn't touch me. I'm…"

"What is it, Sans? What are you afraid of?" Papyrus felt like his heart was breaking, seeing his brother like this. "Me?"

Sans shook his head furiously. "No! It's not you. I… I don't want to... I'm scared I'll…"

Setting his mouth in a firm line, Papyrus took hold of his brother's shoulders. "Sans, look at me. Please."

The smaller skeleton was shaking now, his whole body trembling so that his bones rattled beneath his blue armor and scarf. Slowly, he faced his brother again, tears streaming down his face. "Paps, I'm scared…" Sans spent a moment bracing himself, then he finally opened his eyes, looking terrified. "I'm scared of myself," he whispered.

Papyrus froze, staring transfixed at his brother's innocent blue pupils… and the glowing white words trapped behind them.

ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

Sans must have seen the horror on his face, because he turned away, squeezing his eyes shut again. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I... I don't know what I am anymore. So that's why you shouldn't touch-"

Papyrus immediately folded his brother back into a hug. "You're home, that's what you are. You're with me."

At first, his brother didn't move, but then his arms reached up and he clung to Papyrus like a lifeline, pressing his face into his chest and sobbing. "But what if I go crazy? What if I hurt you?" he wailed.

"Nothing can hurt so much as losing you," Papyrus answered softly. "I'm here for ya, bro. Always. We'll get through this together. Just... just tell me what happened. How did you get away from Error?"

It took Sans a long time to calm down enough for words to become intelligible again, but Papyrus was willing to wait for him, simply rubbing his brother's back while he collected himself. Silently, he wondered how they were going to fix this new... development. Maybe Core Frisk would have a way?

"S-see, I kind of made Error mad," Sans finally said, pulling back from Papyrus enough to give him his usual grin. His brother's eyes were closed again, though, and that sort of ruined the expression. "He was being a jerk, trying to get me to say I hated him, so I told him I was going to be friends with him instead!"

Papyrus snorted. "Why am I not surprised?"

Sans snickered as well. "He kind of flipped out and ditched me in the anti-void by myself. It was actually kind of funny."

"So, he didn't hurt you at all?" Papyrus asked, just to be sure.

Shaking his head, Sans shrugged at him. "Once he realized I wasn't going to attack him, he mostly just talked to me and showed me stuff. Which was okay by me, it meant he wasn't off destroying other universes... like he probably is now... But he showed me a lot of scary things. The multiverse is _huge_ , Paps, you wouldn't believe it!"

"I can believe it," Papyrus snorted, thinking back to his earlier poker game. "I haven't exactly just been sitting around here the whole time you've been gone. So, once he left, you were able to get away?"

"Not right away," Sans admitted. "Error gets around by manipulating the code of the universes that surround the anti-void, and I couldn't figure out how to do that until..." he trailed off, opening his eyes again without looking at his brother. Papyrus could still see the errors there, though, and he got his brother's point.

He gripped Sans' shoulders. "You know, you don't have to hide them from me. They don't change anything, you're still you."

Sans laughed, and Papyrus winced as his voice began to glitch, sounding just like that error guy for a few seconds before returning to normal. "I don't know about that, Paps. But thanks."

Papyrus didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't, instead just rocking back on his heels while he stared at his brother. Despite what he'd just said, his brother really had changed, and not just with the errors. He was more serious, not as loud, and his smile didn't seem to come as easily anymore. He supposed that was to be expected, but it was still disturbing.

Suddenly Sans snorted, shaking his head and turning to look off to one side. "Would you guys knock it off? He can't hear you, remember?" There was a short pause, then, "No, I don't _want_ him to hear you, either!"

"Hear who?" Papyrus asked nervously.

"The voices," Sans answered, looking a bit sheepish, then laughed. "I know, sounds crazy, but it comes with the glitches, apparently. I still dunno if they're actually real or not. Error hears them, too. They're not bad people, thankfully, they just ask lots of questions. Like, they want to know if you've met any Charas yet. And..." he tilted his head curiously. "something about wanting to know who was winning a poker game earlier?"

Papyrus stared for a long moment, and a crooked smile appeared on his face. "Uh, how'd you know I was playing poker?"

Sans blinked at him in surprise. "Oh. You really _were_ playing poker? I didn't know, I was just repeating the question. Who were you playing poker with? Isn't this world, uh, still destroyed from...?"

"Core Frisk showed me something called the Omega timeline," Papyrus explained. "It's a universe where they bring anyone who needs extra help, mostly the survivors of genocide universes. There's, uh, a lot of us-es there, as well as multiple versions of basically everyone I know, and some people I don't."

"Omega timeline..." Sans frowned. "Error's been looking for that place, I think."

Papyrus repressed a shudder, knowing full well what that glitch would want there. Glancing off the direction Sans had looked when he'd addressed 'the voices', he smirked. "To answer the question, I guess, I'm pretty sure Shadow was winning. The jerk was rather blatantly cheating, though."

"Shadow?" Sans asked curiously.

Papyrus shrugged. "Everyone in Omega calls each other by nicknames, cause there's so many of the same people. Shadow's a Papyrus from a Fell universe. I've been going by 'Carrot Paps'."

Sans' eyes lit up with literal stars, and a genuine smile stretched across his face. "Carrot?" he laughed. He held out a hand to his brother. "Heh! Nice to meet you, Carrot Paps. I'm Blueberry Sans! Gosh! We would make for a really bizarre breakfast smoothie, wouldn't we?"

Papyrus grinned, not just because of the names, but because of his brother's expression. Even with the glitches, those excited stars were something he hadn't seen in far too long, and he had to fight past a wave of emotion. He took Sans' hand and shook it seriously, then pulled him into a hug again. "Gods, Sans, I missed you. You have no idea."

Hugging back tightly, Sans giggled. "Me too, Paps..." For a moment, he seemed like he was about to say something else, but then he froze.

Slowly, Papyrus looked down at him. "... What is it?"

His brother abruptly pulled away and whirled around, crouching down to pick something up off the floor that Papyrus hadn't noticed before. "Oh dear. Oh dear. Paps, the voices say Error's figured out where I am. We have to hurry!"

Immediately, Papyrus flared up his magic, hands clenching. "How long do we have?"

"No idea," Sans said worriedly. He turned back to Papyrus and held up what looked like a glass canister for him to see. A glass canister... with a bright red soul inside. "We've gotta get to Snowdin, quick!"

Papyrus stared at the soul. "Sans, where did you get _that_?"

"It's the human from our world," Sans explained quickly. "I rescued them from Error. If we can get them back to their body, they'll be able to RESET! This world will go back to the way it was before Error showed up!"

Papyrus' eyes widened. "E-everything?" He grabbed Sans' shoulder. "Even you?"

Sans hesitated. "I... I have no idea. But we've gotta find that human before Error does, or we won't get the chance to find out. They hadn't gotten to my sentry station yet before Error got to them, so they're either in Snowdin forest somewhere past there, or back in the Ruins."

Nodding, Papyrus ushered Sans forward and activated a shortcut. Within seconds, they were running amongst the familiar snow-covered trees.

The forest was hauntingly empty, a light snowfall covering any tracks that might once have been there. The longer they ran, the more Papyrus' trepidation grew. They'd be facing Error soon, he knew. And he was ready, this time.

The two skeletons had just crossed the short bridge where Sans had once put up an overly large "fence" when they were stopped dead in their tracks by a cold laugh coming from behind them. Both whirled around to face the threat, Sans clinging tightly to the soul canister and Papyrus' magic lighting up one eye.

Black face, red bones, a wide, yellow smile that stretched wider as crazed eyes glared holes through his brother. "I thought I'd find you here, Blue," he said, his voice cutting in and out at irregular intervals. An odd static seemed to drip from every word. "Thanks for being predictable, as always."

Error yanked his hand down, threads of blue materializing in the air, and something behind him lifted up into view: the human, hanging limply upside down from one thread-bound leg. "I take it you're looking for something?" the abomination laughed.

"Let them go, Error!" Sans pleaded.

"Why should I?" Error snapped back. "You betrayed me, Blue!" Strangely, he sounded legitimately hurt by that. "You manipulated me, you ran away from me, and now you're trying to undo all my hard work! Why would you do that?!"

Papyrus stepped protectively in front of Sans. "Leave him alone, ya freak. And drop the kid."

Error seemed to notice his presence for the first time, and his grin returned. "Ah, you want a rematch? I seem to recall beating you pretty soundly before. Though you did manage to steal one of my slippers. Rude."

Without a word, Papyrus narrowed his eyes and summoned a gaster blaster, letting it charge up as it hovered above his head. Sans looked to him with wide eyes. "Paps, don't..."

But seeing the error messages blinking behind his brother's pupils only fueled Papyrus' anger further. "Sans," he said quietly between clenched teeth. "I'll take care of Error. You get to the human."

Sans hesitated for a long moment before nodding. "Don't kill him. Please."

"No guarantees."

Error laughed, summoning three of his own blasters, tethered to his free hand with strands of blue magic. "Fine! Bring it on, then! Round two, start!"


End file.
